Heidegger's Phenomenology of Perception

David Kleinberg-Levin is Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at Northwestern University. He is the author of ten books, most recently Beckett’s Words: The Promise of Happiness in a Time of Mourning (Bloomsbury, 2015), Redeeming Words: Language and the Promise of Happiness in the Stories of Döblin and Sebald (SUNY Press, 2013) and Redeeming Words and the Promise of Happiness: A Critical Theory Approach to Wallace Stevens and Vladimir Nabokov (Lexington Books, 2012).

The first volume (of two) of Heidegger's Phenomenology of Perception, this is an incredibly rich and clear introduction to Martin Heidegger's phenomenological approach to inquiry more generally. Even though the title specifies perception, Kleinberg-Levin (emer., Northwestern Univ.) notes that particular issues having to do with perception will be taken up in his second volume, and that one must understand Heidegger broadly before one approaches his account of perception. Therefore, this introduction will be of great use to first-time readers of Heidegger as well as to specialists interested in perception per se. The book consists of two unequal parts. Part 1, "Another Humanism?" is only 16 pages and introduces Heidegger's thought; part 2 comprises five chapters—"Sein," "Dasein," "Ereignis," "Lichtung," "Geschick"—each devoted to a central aspect of Heidegger's work. This introduction will set the reader up to understand the concerns of perception that Kleinberg-Levin discusses in volume 2 (forthcoming). Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty.

• Bibliographical AbbreviationsAcknowledgementsEpigramsPrefaceIntroductionPart I. Another Humanism?Part II. Chapter 1. Sein: What Is Being?Part II. Chapter 2. Dasein: From Menschsein to Da-seinPart II. Chapter 3. Ereignis: Da-sein in Appropriation, Gentlest of All LawsPart II. Chapter IV. Lichtung: Living in the Clearing of WorldsPart II. Chapter V. Geschick: Toward Another Inception? Part III. After the History of Being: Prelude and Promise Index